Today AQMRC will host a
consultation event to consider Defra’s proposals to review Local Air Quality
Management in England. The full details
of the consultation can be found here
In brief the purpose of this
consultation is to seek views on the best way to address “shortcomings
identified in Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) delivery in England.” LAQM began with the Environment Act of 1995
and has led to more than half of the local authorities in the UK having one or
more Air Quality Management Areas. Nearly all of the AQMAs are due to traffic
sources and the vast majority have been declared from nitrogen dioxide. The LAQM process has enabled the spatial and
temporal extent of air pollution in the UK to be defined in much greater detail
than ever before. This diagnostic phase of LAQM has been very successful. It is worth remembering that the overarching
purpose of LAQM was public health protection and the diagnostic phase of work identifies
where public health risks may be present.
Each AQMA has an Action Plan
associated with it which sets out the measures the Local Authority will take on
their own, in partnership, or that will be taken by other agencies, to improve
air quality and thereby reducing the risk to public health. It also sets out a
timescale over which air quality in the AQMA will be brought back to compliance
with the relevant air quality objective. This Action Planning phase of LAQM has
been much less successful and very few AQMAs have been revoked because of the
actions undertaken within the Acton Plan.
The consultation document argues
that the administrative burden of LAQM is significant and that the process does
not usually take into account compliance with EU limit values. The UK is finding it very difficult to meet
EU air quality limit values and there is a significant infraction risk arising
from that failure. The consultation
suggests that local authorities could focus their actions on what is needed to
achieve these obligations and to reduce the public health impacts of poor air
quality rather than to continue their current focus on local assessment and
reporting.
Defra identify 4 aims for the
consultation and propose 4 options to address these aims.
Defra’s aims of the LAQM review are
1. Local
action is focused on what is necessary to support air quality improvements to
benefit public health and to work towards EU air quality standards
2. Local
government and other stakeholders are clear on their roles and responsibilities
and work together to improve air quality
3. Local
authorities have simple reporting requirements with less bureaucracy and more
time to concentrate on actions to improve air quality and public health
4. Local
authorities have access to information about evidence based measures to improve
air quality including on transport and communications
Defra identifies 4 options to
meet these aims
1 Business
As Usual with limited changes
·
Retain separate local air quality regulations
·
Maintain review and assessment reporting cycle,
but remove the need to carry out Further Assessments
·
Review the need for continued assessment and
reporting on objectives that have been met
2 Concentration on Action Planning and focused reporting
·
All of option 1
·
Change focus from review and assessment to
action planning. Through reducing reporting requirements – e.g. annual local
air quality report to replace Updating and Screening Assessment (USA Report)
cycle but local authorities still assess local air quality on regular basis
·
Reduced and more focused reporting – e.g.
shorter annual local air quality report to replace larger 3 year cycle of
reporting and progress reports
3 Alignment with EU requirements to meet air quality limit values
·
All of Option 2 plus Local authorities no longer
required to carry out detailed assessments or to make/amend AQMAs
·
Consolidate and amend Air Quality (England) and
Air Quality Standards Regulations so that local authorities work towards
compliance with EU air quality limit values and targets where there is scope
for action at the local level
·
No reporting requirements on local hotspots
outside of the national assessment of EU air quality standards but a stronger
interest and reporting on local measures which help to improve air quality and
bring us closer to compliance with EU air quality standards
·
Local authorities would focus on action planning
and public health and report on measures taken to improve air quality and these
are included in reports to EU on compliance where quantified
4 Separate local air quality management duties do not exist
·
No separate LAQM duties but local authorities
would still have to take account of air quality when appraising transport and
development proposals and policies
·
Provisions for LAQM in the Environment Act would
be repealed along with Air Quality England Regulations.
·
Air Quality Standards Regulations amended as per
Option 3
·
No specific duties on local authorities to
assess or report on air quality locally – greater reliance on national
assessment to judge risks arising from transport and development proposals
The consultation is open until 30th
August and you can contribute to the review at https://consult.defra.gov.uk/communications/https-consult-defra-gov-uk-laqm_review
AQMRC will be submitting our views to Defra. In outline our views are that
·
LAQM needs to be reinvigorated and its public
health protection purpose restated and prioritised.
·
The Air Quality Regulations need to be updated
and aligned more explicitly with EU Limit Values.
·
The Air Quality Strategy needs to be reviewed
and updated redefining the contributions of national and local actors.
·
Local Authorities need support and encouragement
to implement Action Plan measures.
·
Review and Assessment, the diagnosis of air
quality problems or improvements, is an essential precondition for effective
and targeted action to improve air quality. This must be retained although the
current administrative arrangements can be improved.
·
In support of public health improvements
Government needs to achieve greater internal coordination of departmental
actions and to deploy these interventions more effectively.
·
Local authority actions can contribute to
meeting EU Limit Values but the means by which this is reported needs careful
consideration.
AQMRC has published extensively on the LAQM process since
1996 and some of our relevant publications are listed below. These chart the
evolution of the process and helped identify many of the opportunities,
concerns and challenges of air quality management.
Some of AQMRC’s LAQM
Publications
Longhurst, J.W.S., Lindley, S.J., Watson, A.F.R. & Conlan, D.E. (1996) The introduction of
local air quality management in the United Kingdom. A review and theoretical
framework. Atmospheric Environment. 30
(23) 3975-3985.
Beattie, C. I., and J.W.S. Longhurst (2000) Joint working
within local government: air quality as a case study. Local Environment. 5 (4) 401–414.
Beattie, C. I., J.W.S. Longhurst A. Simmons & D.M. Elsom
(2000) Regulation and Practice of Local Air Quality Management in England's
major urban areas. AWMA Environmental
Manager. April pp49-55.
Beattie, C. I., J.W.S. Longhurst and N.K. Woodfield (2000) Air quality
management: challenges and solutions in delivering air quality action plans.
Energy and the Environment 11(6) 729-747.
Ing,C., C.I. Beattie and J.W.S. Longhurst. (2001) Progress with implementing local air
quality management in rural areas of England. Journal of Environmental
Management.61 (2) 137-147
Beattie, C. I., J.W.S. Longhurst and N.K. Woodfield (2001)
Air quality management: evolution of policy and practice in the UK as
exemplified by the experience of English local government. Atmospheric
Environment. 35 (8) 1479-1490.
Beattie, C. I., J.W.S. Longhurst and N.K. Woodfield (2001) A
preliminary analysis of the linkage between air quality management and
transport planning policies in a sample of English Highways Authorities. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management
44 (3) 391-408
Beattie, C. I., J.W.S. Longhurst and N.K. Woodfield (2002)
Air Quality Action Plans: early indicators of urban local authority practice in
England. Environmental Science and
Policy 5 463 – 470.
Beattie, C. I., J.W.S. Longhurst and N.K. Woodfield (2002) A
comparative analysis of the air quality management challenges and capabilities
in urban and rural English local authorities. Urban Studies 39 (13) 2469-2483.
Woodfield, N.K., Longhurst, J.W.S., Beattie, C.I., &
Laxen, D.P.H. (2002) Designating Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) in the
UK: Implications for Securing UK Air Quality Objectives. Water Air and Soil Pollution. 2, 677-688
Woodfield, N.K., Longhurst, J.W.S., Beattie, C.I., &
Laxen, D.P.H. (2003) Regional variation in the implementation of the local air
quality management process within Great Britain. Journal of Environmental
Planning and Management 46 (1) 49-64.
Woodfield, N.K., Longhurst, J.W.S., Beattie, C.I., &
Laxen, D.P.H. (2003) Critical evaluation of the role of scientific analysis in
UK local authority AQMA decision-making: method development and preliminary
results. Science of the Total
Environment. 311 (1-3) 1-18
Woodfield, N.K., Longhurst, J.W.S., Beattie, C.I., &
Laxen, D.P.H. (2003) Judging the risk of exceedance: local authority
decision-making for air quality management area designation. Local Environment, 8 (4) 423 - 436.
Beattie, C. I., J.W.S. Longhurst and Elsom, D.M. (2004) Evidence of integration of air quality
management in the decision making processes and procedures of English local government.
Local Environment. 9 (3) 255 – 270.
Chatterton, T.J, Woodfield, N.K., Beattie, C.I. &
Longhurst, J.W.S. (2004). Outcomes of the first round of local authority air
quality review and assessments under the UK's air quality strategy. Journal of Environmental Monitoring, 6 849 -
853
Woodfield, N.K., Longhurst, J.W.S., Beattie, C.I.,
Chatterton, T. and Laxen, D.P.H. (2006). Regional collaborative urban air
quality management: Case studies across Great Britain. Environmental Modelling
and Software. 595 -599
Dorfman, P., Beattie, C.I., Burnet, F., Gibbs, D. C.,
Longhurst, J.W. S., Weitkamp, E. & Leksmono, N.S (2006) A conceptual model
of the role of complex science in local authority consultations about air
quality management. Local Environment 11 (4) 399 - 419.
Longhurst, J.W.S., Beattie, C.I., Chatterton, T., Hayes,
E.T., Leksmono, N.S., and Woodfield, N.K. (2006) Local air quality management
as a risk management process: assessing, managing and remediating the risk of
exceeding an air quality objective in Great Britain. Environment International
32(8) 934-947.
Chatterton, T.J., Longhurst, J.W.S., Leksmono, N.S., Hayes,
E.T. & Symons, J.K., (2007). Ten
years of Local Air Quality Management experience in the UK: An analysis of the
process. Clean Air and Environmental
Quality, 41(4): 26-31.
Longhurst, J.W.S., Irwin, J.G., Chatterton, T.J, Hayes, E.T. Leksmono, N.S., & Symons,
J.K., (2009). The development of effects based air quality management regime.
Invited contribution to 50th Anniversary Special Issue. Atmospheric Environment 43 (1) 64-78.
Dorfman, P., Gibbs,
D.C., Leksmono, N.S., Longhurst, J. W. S., Weitkamp, E.L.C. (2010) Exploring the context of consultation.
The case of Local Air Quality Management. Local Environment 15:1 15 – 26.
Leksmono, N.S., Dorfman, P., Burnet, F., Gibbs, D.C.,
Longhurst, J. W. S., Weitkamp, E. (2010) Enhancing consultation practices on
Air Quality Management in local authorities. Journal of Environmental Planning
and Management 53 (5) pp 559 – 571
Olowoporoku, A. O., Hayes, E. T., Leksmono, N. S., Longhurst,
J. W. S. & Parkhurst, G. (2010) A longitudinal study of the links
between Local Air Quality Management and Local Transport Planning policy
processes in England. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 53
(3), 385 – 403.
Ross-Jones, M.J & Longhurst, J.W.S. (2010) Managing Air
Quality at the Local level. A Case Study.
The International Journal of Sustainable Development & Planning 5
(3) 223–237
Longhurst, J.W.S., Olowoporoku, A. O., Barnes, J., Chatterton,
T.J., Hayes, E.T. and Irwin, J.G.
Exploring issues of process efficiency and outcome effectiveness in the United
Kingdom’s Local Air Quality Management Regime.(2011) The International Journal
of Sustainable Development & Planning 6 (3) 286 -298
Olowoporoku, A. O., Hayes, E. T., Longhurst, J. W. S. & Parkhurst,
G. ( 2011) Improving road transport-related air quality in England
through joint working between Environmental Health Officers and Transport
Planners. Local Environment 16 (3) 603-618
Olowoporoku, A. O., Longhurst, J. W. S., Hayes, E. T., &
Parkhurst, G. ( 2012) The
rhetoric and realities of integrating air quality into the local transport
planning process in English local authorities Journal of Environmental
Management 101 pp. 23 -32.
Everard, M., Pontin, B., Appleby, T., Staddon, C., Hayes,
E.T., Barnes, J.H. & Longhurst,
J.W.S. (2013, forthcoming) Air as a
common good. Environmental Science &
Policy DOI 10.1016/j.envsci.2012.04.008 Online November 2012.
Barnes, J., Hayes, E.T., Longhurst J.W.S., Chatterton,
T.J (2013) Air quality action planning:
why do barriers to remediation in local air quality management remain? Journal
of Environmental Planning and Management DOI: 10.1080/09640568.2012.762573
Online 3rd April 2013 pp. 1-22. ISSN 0964-0568
AQMRC
1st
August 2013
